KTR, KCR to lead campaigning blitz

Hyderabad: BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and working president minister K.T. Rama Rao will lead the party’s campaign blitz for the upcoming Assembly polls, party sources said, unlike in 2014 and 2018, when only Chandrashekar Rao covered 100 Assembly constituencies for campaigning.

This time, Rama Rao will also cover 100 Assembly constituencies for the first time as the party’s working president, they said.

The party leadership is planning for Rama Rao to undertake a bus yatra in over 100 constituencies from September, while Chandrashekar Rao will use helicopters to cover 100 constituencies in October, after addressing a massive rally in Warangal on October 16, sources said.

Around 10 lakh people are expected to attend the Warangal rally, they said.

It may be recalled that Chandrashekar Rao appointed his son Rama Rao as the party’s working president on December 14, 2018, a day after he took oath as the Chief Minister for the second term on December 13. Until then, the BRS did not have the post of working president.

With Assembly elections months away, the Chief Minister reportedly wants Rama Rao to cover the entire state and lead the BRS campaign before he visits the constituencies.

Rama Rao’s proposed bus yatra, covering the entire state, triggered speculations in BRS circles yet again that Chandrashekar Rao is seeking to crown his son the Chief Minister, paving the way for the senior Rao to play a key role in national politics, given the Lok Sabha scheduled in the first half of 2024.

Sources said that after rebranding the party as BRS, the Chief Minister is seeking to make forays into other states, with Maharashtra a key target for securing Lok Sabha seats in 2024.

There are a total of 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra, of which the BRS is expected to contest 20 seats. Chandrashekar Rao has been claiming that the BRS, if it has 35 Lok Sabha seats (15 from Telangana state and 20 from Maharashtra), can play a key role in national politics as neither the NDA nor the I.N.D.I.A coalition will be able to form the government without its support.

Previously, Rama Rao was confined to GHMC limits for election campaigning and mostly for the civic body polls in 2014 and 2018. However, in a departure, the Chief Minister deputed Rama Rao for campaigning for the Munugode bypoll last November.

Rama Rao held a series of roadshows in the Munugode constituency, and the BRS defeated BJP and Congress candidates in the ensuing bypoll, giving credence to his increasing responsibilities in the party.

For the 2018 Assembly polls, Chandrashekar Rao kickstarted the BRS campaigning by addressing a massive rally in Kongarakalan on the city outskirts, for which lakhs of people were mobilised from across 119 Assembly constituencies.

This time around, the Chief Minister wants to continue the same sentiment formula by addressing a massive rally in Warangal, sources said.